Coventry HDRC hosted its three-year celebration event at Coventry University, Techno Centre, marking three years since the HDRC was set up in Coventry.
The Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) came together last week to celebrate its achievements, strengthen connections, and continue collaborating on its ongoing work.
We put together a booklet called “Coventry HDRC: Three Years of Progress and Collaboration” (PDF) that provides a deeper insight into the Coventry HDRC’s highlights and progress over the last three years, and what the collaboration wants to achieve next. You can also view an accessible version of the booklet in text format.
Partners from across Coventry City Council, Coventry University, the University of Warwick, University College London, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, the voluntary sector, and local communities presented their work and objectives in the form of poster abstracts. A number of residents attended who are Public Voice Group (PVG) members, providing a space for knowledge exchange and discussion of future research collaboration opportunities.
An example of our collaboration is between Warwick Medical School and the Council’s housing and homelessness team. This involves research into homelessness to identify key health challenges and the barriers and enablers to improving the health of homeless people in Coventry.
The celebration event included Professor Sir Michael Marmot, from the Institute of Health Equity at the University College London, and founder of the Marmot places.
Sir Michael Marmot opened his speech with the powerful statement:
“Coventry changed my life.”
This referenced the key role that Coventry has played as the UK’s first Marmot Place. The Marmot Partnership is a key element of the Council’s work, with the shared aim of reducing the unjust inequalities that exist within our communities. Learn more about the story of Coventry as a Marmot place
Councillor Kamran Caan, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing at Coventry City Council, added:
“I was a huge supporter of the Coventry HDRC during the initial application process. We want to change research and collaborations because we want to make a difference.”
Coventry HDRC and its collaborators are passionate about addressing the wider determinants of health, the so-called building blocks of health, aligned with the Marmot Places Principles and Coventry City Council’s One Coventry Plan. These refer to what Sir Michael Marmot describes as: “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age” that affect their health outcomes.
These non-medical factors, such as employment, education, transport, housing, and digital inclusion, play a major role in shaping health and wellbeing.
The aim of the HDRC is to help narrow the health inequalities gap across the city using data, evidence, and research to help address inequalities in the wider determinants of health.
Valerie de Souza, Director of Coventry HDRC and Public Health Consultant at Coventry City Council, shared:
“The aim of the Coventry HDRC is to use research to address the unfair differences in health in Coventry. This year we have demonstrated strong progress towards this by continuing to broker and build strong relationships between the Council and our universities. We are developing meaningful and trusted relationships with our communities and shifting towards a more research-focussed culture within the Council.”
The event included two workshops on culture change and on how to improve public engagement.
